Many in Moray anxious under Tories – Lochhead
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MORAY’S SNP MSP says many constituents are anxious and fearful for the future after the Conservatives' majority win in last week's General Election.
Richard Lochhead said Douglas Ross, who was returned to Westminster to represent Moray as MP for the next five years, was in a precarious position after the Tories lost seven seats in Scotland.
Mr Lochhead thanked voters, saying: "The SNP and our candidate, Laura Mitchell, ran a brilliant campaign and came within a few hundred votes of winning Moray. I thank all 21,599 people that voted SNP last week – the SNP’s second highest ever vote in Moray."
He added: "The local MP is now on a shoogly nail and his party is now severely weakened. He should be sending Christmas presents to both Nigel Farage and Jeremy Corbyn because he owes his victory to both these men. It was the decision of the Brexit Party to enter into an alliance with Boris Johnson and to stand down their Moray candidate that saved the Tories in Moray and also the fact that many voters told us they were holding their nose and voting Tory to stop Corbyn.
"However, Corbyn is effectively gone but we now face the terrifying prospect of a right-wing and dangerous Boris Johnson majority government for the next five years. I’ve been contacted by many constituents genuinely anxious and fearful about the future and what the Tories are set to inflict upon us."
Mr Lochhead hailed his party's performance, saying: "Even though we fell just short in Moray, the SNP won the General Election in Scotland winning an astonishing 47 of the 59 seats, emerging with eight times the number of seats won by the Tories who were overwhelmingly rejected by Scotland, losing seven of their 13 seats.
"Scotland is now SNP yellow and England is Tory blue – showing that our country is choosing a different path to the rest of the UK and rejecting Boris Johnson’s intolerant and self-serving politics.
"Unless Scotland is able to secure an escape route, we now face not only the right-wing policies of Boris Johnson but being dragged out of the EU against our will, which is bad for Moray and local jobs and our communities. Scotland deserves the right to be able to choose a difference future in an independence referendum."
Mr Lochhead said his job as local MSP was to work with colleagues to "protect Moray from this very right-wing Boris Johnson government" and vowed to work "harder than ever" to do that.
